Family trips – Travels with Ali

The day finally arrived for our trip to Melbourne to visit Laurence and Maddy. It was a bright and clear day in Perth and there was so much excitement as we packed up two cars to drive to the airport. We parked in the long term carpark and then caught the shuttle bus to the terminal. When we arrived at the airport, Lachie was already saying “are we in Melbourne yet”, a phrase that was heard very often over the next few hours.

On the bus to the terminal

As we prepared to print our luggage tags a Qantas assistant came up and did everything for us, so helpful, then walking through immigration we were once again assisted through the hand baggage check. Of course poor Anthony gets stopped every single time because of his titanium shoulder and always gets frisked and patted from top to bottom.

The plane was almost full and we were all sitting in a row. Masks needed to be worn which was a great game for Rose as she tried repeatedly to take mine off. Although it was nice to be travelling to Melbourne again the masks are a pain to wear! You were only allowed to eat at designated times, when the food was served and masks were to be placed back again when the time was over.

We were staying at The Hamptons in St. Kilda in a two bed, two bath apartment. We had decided not to rent a car as it is hard to park in Melbourne for any length of time.

On our first day Elena and I took the kids to Prahran Market where there was live music for kids. It’s a wonderful market with lots of cafes and food stalls selling all kinds of fruit, veg and baked goods.

We couldn’t believe how helpful people were assisting with the pram and giving us the correct directions to the market.

I had to stop and take photos of the great murals always found in Melbourne.

After the market it was home again for nap time before our visit to DiscoverLego at Chadstone. This is something Lachie had been looking forward to for a long time. It’s a great experience if you are a lego enthusiast, young or old. The work that goes into creating these exhibits is astounding.

As we were technically still on Perth time we went out for dinner to The Grosvenor Hotel within walking distance from our apartment. That’s the best thing about Melbourne you don’t have to go far to find a pub, restaurant, cafe or bar!

A lovely end to our first day, hopefully tomorrow goes as smoothly!

Our luck ran out today weatherwise, but that didn’t mean we were going to alter our plans for a trip to Cataract Gorge. We were looking forward to riding on the famous chairlift, built in 1972, it has a total span of 457 m (1,499 ft).

The first stop on today’s itinerary was the Queen Victoria Art Museum. When we visited there was a wonderful exhibition called Skin by Garry Greenwood. This featured stunning leather artworks with an array of masks, sculptures and musical instruments. A permanent feature at this museum is The First Tasmanians exhibition. I found this very interesting and learnt so much about survival and how they lived their day to day life.

From here we made our way to Cataract Gorge, stopping at Penny Royal Adventures for a quick look around. By now the rain had set in, poor Maddy found out her raincoat was not waterproof!

Penny Royal Adventures is a great place for kids, there were a couple of rides and of course the suspension bridge. I thought at first this was the bridge that I saw mentioned at Cataract Gorge! I really wasn’t that keen to try it. We saw a family walking along it with helmets on. From here we walked around to the Zig Zag trail and started our walk along the Gorge.

It is believed that the final formation of Cataract Gorge began with the last ice age, approximately 3 to 4 million years ago. The rock formations are commonly believed to be from volcanic activity.

On a good day there would be so much to do, explore the gardens and look at the beautiful peacocks strutting about, search for wallabies in the bush and maybe have a swim in the massive open air swimming pool. We did see a few bedraggled peacocks and glimpses of wallabies through the rocks. It was mostly just a case of putting one foot forward and marching on.

We finally reached the Alexandra suspension bridge after around 40 minutes and the weather showed no signs of improving. The bridge was built in 1904 and named after Queen Alexandra and is 220 ft long.

It is kind of shaky! We didn’t venture all the way across, I think we had lost our bearings somewhere along the way and wanted to make our way to the chairlift. Hubby was against the chairlift and said it would be totally miserable and wanted to walk back the same way. By this time Maddy had already set off in search of it! It was three against one and so the chairlift it was.

The Bandstand built for Edward VII and Queen Alexandra

I only managed one photo on the chairlift of Laurence and Maddy in front of us! I have to say it was not the most enjoyable ride I’ve ever taken. When we “disembarked” we ordered an uber to take us to the pub we had seen just past the Penny Royal, Kings Bridge Pub. Here we had a well deserved lunch, a few drinks and a couple of games of pool.

The pub was a great find with very traditional old English decor, what more could you ask for on a rainy day.

Then it was back to the hotel to dry off and a rest for me before heading out for dinner that night. We all decided that it was a fantastic day out despite the weather.

We at at Stello’s Restaurant which was just a short walk from the hotel.